Baroness Bra takes indefinite leave from House of Lords.

 

"Baroness Bra" - Michelle Mone

What a racket! The government awarded two public contacts worth £203m to a firm called PPE Medpro, to purchase PPE, after a Tory Peer, Baroness Mone, aka Baroness Bra, lobbied government ministers. They paid the firm, which had no previous expertise of procuring PPE, £122m to provide 25 million surgical gowns and £80.8m for £210 million facemasks. The surgical gowns were bought in China for £46m and the facemasks, which were also sourced in China, were bought for £54.6m, leading to a 50% profit margin.

None of the surgical gowns were ever used by the NHS, because they weren't fit for purpose. It also transpired that Baroness Mone and her partner, Douglas Barrowman, had links to the firm and profited from the government contracts.

The National Crime Agency, are now investigating PPE Medpro, and Baroness Mone is under investigation by the Lords Commissioner for standards. According to the Guardian newspaper, Douglas Barrowman and his wife, Michelle Mone, received at least £65m of profit from PPE Medpro, and went on a spending spree.

Opposition parties at Westminster are now demanding full disclosure about Mone's dealings with four key ministers - Gove, Agnew, Bethell, and Hancock. The government say that minister's had no role in awarding contracts which was the job of civil servants. Yet, an official has told the Guardian, that Minister's had made it clear that "politically connected people", should be given special treatment.

The Guardian reported that the couple have declined to say if the purchase of a jet, yacht, properties, wedding and honeymoon, in a five-star resort in the Maldives, were paid for directly or indirectly out of PPE Medpro profits. The newspaper also reported that the couple now appear to be selling assets almost as quickly as they acquired them.

The Ballakew Estate on the Isle of Man and their Eaton Terrace London home are now up for sale, along with their yacht, the Lady M. There's also speculation that the couple are planning to leave the country and to relocate to southern Europe.